A conservative political group founded by Karl Rove is spending $1.4 million on ads statewide just days before the election.

Crossroads GPS is just the latest outside political group to buy ad time here in waning days of the campaign. It joins Americans for Prosperity, American Future Fund and Restore Our Future in running spots critical of President Barack Obama’s record on spending.

Crossroads GPS is a issue advocacy group that, unlike super PACs, does not have to disclose where it’s money is coming from.

This is the first time the group has advertised in Minnesota this election. The ad comes just as Mitt Romney’s campaign announced a last-minute visit by VP candidate Paul Ryan. Though Minnesota has long voted for Democrats for presidents, it appears Republicans are making a last-minute push here.

About the blogger

Catharine Richert covers politics for MPR News, and writes PoliGraph, a fact-checking feature that gets behind the spin in Minnesota politics. She has also contributed to MPR’s coverage of the federal health care overhaul. Catharine joined the MPR newsroom in 2011 after finishing a master’s degree at the U of M’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Previously, Catharine worked for PolitiFact.com and Congressional Quarterly. She lives in Rochester with her husband and son.

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Last night, there were what seemed like dozens of these extremist groups’ ads on the air, complete with the usual distortions and lies. I could hardly believe how many there were. There were like 5 or 6 political ads in a row during many commercial breaks, and the majority were attack ads against Obama that contained very little truth. During a couple commercial breaks during the 10 pm news on WCCO (which I usually don’t watch because they’re not about real news any more), there were even more ads in a row. I’m certain that they cut out news time in order to fit in more ads, which I think is really despicable, especially given that they didn’t bother to do any fact-checking or analysis of those ads or any of the others we’ve been seeing.